Passenger traffic at Dubai International airport rose 6.3 per cent in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period last year.

The airport processed 43.05 million passengers between January and June this year compared to 40.51 million in the first half of 2016.

This growth is in line with the annual passenger growth forecast of 6 per cent.

Dubai Airports, which operates both Dubai International and Al-Maktoum International, said earlier this year it expects passenger traffic at Dubai International to reach 89 million in 2017.

Air cargo volumes handled by the airport reached 1.30 million tonnes, an increase of 1.6 per cent over the same period last year.

Flight movements rose only 0.9 per cent to reach 205,996 during the first half of the year.

According to Dubai Airports, the top country destinations in terms of total passenger volumes in the first half of 2017 were India (5,943,359), Saudi Arabia (3,108,492), the UK (3,064,172), Pakistan (2,207,497) and the US (1,561,559).